I think that 'a society' is perfectly proper.  It is only the somewhat
monolithic US society that burdens its citizenry with the challengeable
belief into THE (one and only) society.

I also have no problem with "level of intelligence," linguistically
speaking.  However, I agree with you that a society is likely to contain
several levels of intelligence; in fact, it may have as many levels of
intelligence as it has citizens.

There is a fine line between what is a matter of semantic selection and
philosophical conviction.  One can challenge the former on grammatical
grounds, but not the latter.

==Reinhold

SIRAISI Tomio wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
> I found the following sentence in a grammar book for Japanese students.
>
> The quality of a newspaper depends on the interests and the level of
> intelligence of the people living in a society.
>
> In my opinion, "a society" should be "the society".
> Am I right?
>
> Ithink that, in this context,it would be better to say "the intellectual
> level"
>  rather than "the level of intelligence".
> "level" or levels"?
>
> Is there any other better way to say?
>
> Thank you in advance.
>
> SIRAISI Tomio
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